Regrettably, this uncertainty persists during the on-going deficit reduction discussions. Those who received services paid for by Medicare will not be affected by the automatic budget cuts due to the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to reach a compromise. Nevertheless, I am concerned that providers are not also shielded from those cuts. That is why I am co-sponsoring H.R. 3519, legislation to protect Medicare providers from the 2 percent cuts that were part of the Budget Control Act of 2011. .If the Social Security Administration announces a 1.3% COLA next month, an emergency COLA of 2.5% instead would make a big difference to your income over the next ten years and would also prevent Medicare Part B premiums from spiking any higher than they are already likely to go. .One big difference between Social Security and a Ponzi scheme is the establishment of Social Security by law. Both the amount paid out and the financing coming in can be, and frequently has been, adjusted by Members of Congress. Unlike Ponzi schemes that are supported by voluntary investments, Social Security is supported by tax revenues from working individuals and taxes on a portion of Social Security benefits paid by seniors, both of which are required by law. While Ponzi promised phony payouts, Social Security payouts are established by law as well. They too, have been adjusted over the years. .Americans are anxious to get back to normal after over a year of being limited in their activities because of the pandemic. For many seniors, as well as others, that includes vacationing, and vacationing includes trips on cruise ships. .Back in April, President Trump picked out a single computer model of coronavirus spread to use for guidance about the coronavirus. It turns out that that model initially had rosier estimates than others, and it projected many fewer Covid-19 deaths. .Medicaid already uses this strategy to lower drug costs, and pays much lower prices than Medicare for the same drug. In June we reported that Medicare spending on the highest price category of prescription drugs, called "specialty drugs," increased from .7 billion in 2010 to .8 billion in 201Spending on the same drugs under Medicaid, the program that provides healthcare for low-income Americans, grew much more slowly over the same period, rising from .8 billion to .9 billion. .Congressman Mulvaney also expressed his commitment to reforming the Social Security program during Tuesday's confirmation hearings. He recommended increasing the age of eligibility for Social Security benefits, and in the recent past, he has voted in favor of legislation that would reduce cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) by adopting the "chained" COLA. According to TSCL's research, "chaining" the Social Security COLA would amount to an across-the-board benefit cut of around 8 percent. .Both retirees and the disabled spend a very significant portion of their incomes on healthcare costs. For many, health insurance premiums are the most significant expense that they incur every month. That includes what the government automatically deducts for Medicare Part B, and what individuals shell out for a Medicare Advantage plan or Medigap policy, and Part D drug plan. According to a policy brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums account for the largest share of Medicare beneficiaries' out-of-pocket health spending. Four-in-ten Medicare beneficiaries spend more than 10 percent of their income on premiums alone. To get a better idea of what the government does track, here's a list from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS has classified all expenditure items into more than 200 categories, arranged into eight major groups. Major groups and examples of categories in each include: .Last year Americans were told that one of the ways to prevent being infected with Covid-19 is to wash hands frequently and for at least 20 seconds, and if that was not possible, use hand sanitizer. That resulted in a run on hand sanitizers and for awhile they were difficult to find.